Editing Vandals (section)

====Consolidation====
[[File:Europe and the Near East at 476 AD.png|thumb|260px|[[Barbarian kingdoms]] and tribes after the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476]]

In 456 a Vandal fleet of 60 ships threatening both Gaul and Italy was ambushed and defeated at [[Battle of Agrigentum (456)|Agrigentum]] and [[Battle of Corsica|Corsica]] by the Western Roman general [[Ricimer]].<ref>{{harvnb|Jaques|2007a|p=264}}</ref> In 457 a mixed Vandal-Berber army returning with loot from a raid in [[Campania]] were soundly [[Battle of Garigliano (457)|defeated]] in a surprise attack by Western Emperor Majorian at the mouth of the [[Garigliano]] river.<ref>{{harvnb|Jaques|2007b|p=383}}</ref>

{{Main article|Vandal War (461-468)}}
As a result of the Vandal sack of Rome and piracy in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], it became important to the Roman Empire to destroy the Vandal kingdom. In 460, [[Majorian]] launched an expedition against the Vandals, but was defeated at the [[Battle of Cartagena (461)|Battle of Cartagena]]. In 468 the Western and Eastern Roman empires launched an enormous expedition against the Vandals under the command of [[Basiliscus]], which reportedly was composed of 100,000 soldiers and 1,000 ships. The Vandals defeated the invaders at the [[Battle of Cap Bon (468)|Battle of Cap Bon]], capturing the Western fleet, and destroying the Eastern through the use of [[fire ship]]s.<ref name= Collins125/> Following up the attack, the Vandals tried to invade the [[Peloponnese]], but were driven back by the [[Maniots]] at Kenipolis with heavy losses.<ref name= GreenEl>{{harvnb|Greenhalgh|Eliopoulos|1985|p=21}}</ref> In retaliation, the Vandals took 500&nbsp;hostages at [[Zakynthos]], hacked them to pieces and threw the pieces overboard on the way to Carthage.<ref name= GreenEl/> In 469 the Vandals gained control of Sicily but were forced by [[Odoacer]] to relinquish it in 477 except for the western port of Lilybaeum (lost in 491 after a failed attempt on their part to re-take the island).<ref>J.B. Bury, ''History of the Later Roman Empire'', 1958 edition, pp. 254, 327, 410</ref>

In the 470s, the Romans abandoned their policy of war against the Vandals. The Western general [[Ricimer]] reached a treaty with them,<ref name= Collins125/> and in 476 Genseric was able to conclude a "perpetual peace" with Constantinople. Relations between the two states assumed a veneer of normality.<ref>{{harvnb|Bury|1923|p=125}}</ref> From 477 onwards, the Vandals produced their own coinage, restricted to bronze and silver low-denomination coins. The high-denomination imperial money was retained, demonstrating in the words of Merrills "reluctance to usurp the imperial prerogative".<ref>{{harvnb|Merrills|2004|pp=11–12}}</ref>

Although the Vandals had fended off attacks from the Romans and established hegemony over the islands of the western Mediterranean, they were less successful in their conflict with the [[Berbers]]. Situated south of the Vandal kingdom, the Berbers inflicted two major defeats on the Vandals in the period 496–530.<ref name= Collins125/>